114 comments:

I caught some of it, and think that he was more trying to draw attention to the fact that Obama has kept most of Bush's policies in place- to Obama's credit.

In other words, he's genuinely happy that Obama and others accomplished what was acomplished, but wants it to be clear that, had President Obama followed the promises that Candidate Obama made, we would not be here.

I know what I am thinking, though, which is that Obama made a great call in approving this mission. He made a great call in letting it be delayed, for better weather. He made a great call in not reading the Pakistani's in before we went. He made a great call in not scuttling the mission when the chopper went down.

Rush sincerely congratulated Obama for embracing the policies and the assets -- including Dick Cheney's own Personal Assasination Team -- that made this possible. The sracasm is embedded, inherent, understood.

I think that he starts out sort of serious, that Obama deserves credit for not, I forgot how he worded it, for not squelching it.

The rest sounds like he had been talking to Jeremy or someone else, or listening to journalists, who are trying to portray Obama as a military mastermind. So I think he was being completely sarcastic about that.

About giving Obama credit for doing something right and doing something good? I think those first three sentences were sincere.

When an opponent hits it out of the park, an honest man will congratulate him, a dishonest man will make up a slander about him and a professional politician will refuse to mention it. Therefore Rush is an honest man. Good thing to remember the next time he is called names by AL and Jeremy.

Of course he was sarcastic, but in a way a douchebag like Little Miss Sullivan completely misses. Limbaugh praised Bush and his policies through Obama by backhandedly praising Obama for using them himself whether he intended to or not.

His point was OBVIOUS. had obama done what he campaigned on/promised this would not have happened. His inaction on overturning President Bush's policies is what made this possible. Followed by I, ME, I ME, I, ME.The Military are the heroes.obama...well he's obama.

Virtually everyone is happy Osama bin Laden is dead. And I have no regrets it happened on Obama's watch. Killing Osama is like planting an oak tree. The best time would have been twenty years ago. The second best time is today.

It would have been nice if Clinton killed or detained him when he had the chance. It would have been nice if we killed him at Tora Bora. But eventually we found him and we killed him. Obama is not the primary cause of that, but he is a contributing factor and deserves credit for doing so.

So as someone who has both praised Obama today, mocked Obama a bit today, and once or twice mistakenly said Obama when I meant Osama--I am guessing Rush is doing the same. He is no fan of Obama, but there is nothing wrong with something good happening and this message about Osama bin Laden is a good one.

Ned said...His point was OBVIOUS. had obama done what he campaigned on/promised this would not have happened. His inaction on overturning President Bush's policies is what made this possible. Followed by I, ME, I ME, I, ME.The Military are the heroesNot Obama.==================I wouldn't limit it to the military as "The Heroes". I'd add the CIA, the lawyers that stood up to John McCain and defended enhanced interrogations even if McCain and the Left then inflicted professional damage on the lawyers careers.I'd add the Pakistanis that helped us get KSM and helped us with some info on the couriers despite Islamoids within Pakistan who would like to kill such of their fellow Pakistanis. I'd add in the Brits, Canadians, FRENCH, Aussies that have gone in on other missions to get high value targets.Add in the people at NSA, the National Geographic Spatial Intelligence Agency.All the people in the Bush and Obama Administration that never wavered from wanting this guy dead and the ACLU without a client.

The actual trigger-pullers were on the very end of a long trail of people that led to Binnie's death, and this was apparantly a much easier mission than many. More risky than blowing out the brains of a few Somali pirates, but less risky than other missions where the elite troops took losses.

Rush's sarcasm was not in this case directed at Obama or the efforts that "brought Bin Laden to justice." It was directed at themedia leftosphere's nakedly disparate treatement of yet another set of Obama's actions, compared to similar actions of Bush. From the retention of Gitmo, to the capitalizing on "harsh interrogation-divulged information, to drone attacks and so on, Obama has continued many of Bush's policies in the GWOT. Policies that the leftosphere, and notably Obama himself hysterically criticized during Bush's two terms.

Rush Limbaugh always comments about the news of the day. And, this one? Well, Obama came out and OWNED IT.

Best comment showed up at Lucianne. Or, FREEPER's. (Alas, I don't remember the name of the poster.)

But, "they found him when they realized the saw a big house without telephones."

Protected by the Pakistani military.

And, kudos to the PLANNERS! They knew the layout of the house's interior. Even to the place, outside, where garbage was burned.

I'm sure Osama Bin Laden went in and out in a burka. He had to "hire guards." And, they had to bring in food.

Perhaps, there were public records on the compound, itself? Otherwise, coming in as they did at 3AM ... without knocking. How did they know where the bedrooms were?

Hope the Belgians never, ever find out the names of the Navy Seals. Or the International Courts will go after them. To say nothing of the nut jobs who will put out home addresses and phone numbers, on the Internet!

Credit where it's due: Obama made the right decisions on this operation in the right way. I'm not sure burying Osama at sea was the right decision (I hate giving the conspiracy theorists more grist for the mills) but actually securing the corpse instead of shredding the compound from the air was the way this needed to end. Good job Mr. President.

While I welcome the inclusion of Osama bin Laden to the circle of life in the Arabian Sea (check out the hagfish doing their thing), it does not change the fact that most of Barack Obama's policies suck.

And that the success in bringing down Osama bin Laden was due to Barack Obama following the precidence of George W. Bush, not the nonsense advice of Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Greenwald about turning the war on terror into a police action.

He was being sincere when he praised Obama for keeping in place Bush's policies but he was being sarcastic about everything else. You would think even an HIV infected liberal brain could figure that out.

A friend of mine used that phrase today and I couldn't stop laughing. It was so bad, he finally took it back and tried to change the subject, but by then I was already on the floor wiping away tears and gasping for air. The Obots have really got to work on their delivery on the down slope.

Candle Light Vigil tonight for Usama Bin Laden author: social workers united e-mail: squire522@usto.net There will be an candle light vigil tonight in the South Park blocks To celebrate his life and we hope to end imperialism in the United States. We will be burning Bibles and other Christian related material.

Rush's irony comes from the tension of the right that claims Obama is a socialist and at the same time only continuing the Bush policies; it certainly confuses many on this blog. I gathered from his speech that Obama recognized and praised a long line of folks who made this possible, including the will of the American spirit.

I am sorry, but it is difficult not to be saracastic when you see the left go nuts giving Obama an atta boy for employing the exact same methods they call Bush a fascist for using. Imagine if Bush had done this and there had been no body..hell half the Democrats I know think Bush was behind 911..well until today anyway..now all of a sudden they have a reason to blame Osama. I guess that means the Truther movement is dead. Rosie O'Donnell will be so crushed.

Rather than worrying about who meant what when they said it then and mean something else now, prehaps we can give President Obama credit for not following the policies of Candidate Obama.

I don't agree with most of what Obama wants to do, but on the foreign policy front he has definitely grown in office, as the saying is.

The President did the right thing. He could have done the wrong, easy thing--the Leftists praising his courage and toughness today would be praising his restraint and wisdom if he had chosen to let bin Ladin go.

In the face of that temptation--an amen chorus who will praise you no matter what you do--would YOU find it in yourself to change your mind, the way Obama has?

They told me if I vtored for John McCain I'd get Bush's third term. I voted for John McCain, and I got Bush'd third term...

My kids (the oldest is 12) have enough common sense as to made the right decisions as to going after Osama bin Laden. What is interesting (and somewhat heartening) is Barack Obama ignored fools like Holder, Greenwald, Sullivan and others and followed the advice of adults who told him how to make this happen. And they made this happen.

And I give him credit for not fucking up. I do not want to see Barack Obama re-elected, but I sure as hell do not want Osama bin Laden creating CO2 or other mischief. Much better that he is feeding the lower sea creatures of the Arabian Sea.

Crack thanks for the link;I have even more respect for Obama-- here is a black man who doesn't get dragged down by turbulent and fragmented family, but manages to transcend it to some degree, take responsibility for himself and go on to establish a career and family-- I could only wish.

I do not vilify the left, hell, while I disagree with a lot Sullivan and Greenwald say--I actually agree with them on many civil liberty issues when it comes to detainees. But some of the left are contemptable and I find them abhorent: Traitors and scum.

Yes, Obama made the right decision, he made the decision he was elected to make. That is his job...just like it was Bush's job to go after the Taliban and AlQaida in the first place. My point is that someone like Andrew Sullivan can not see Rush's sarcasm...considering the fact that Andrew did not support the policies necessary to get the intel that made the mission possible. Obama could have given Bush some credit, but he is not a big enough man to do that.

Candle Light Vigil tonight for Usama Bin Ladenauthor: social workers united e-mail: squire522@usto.net There will be an candle light vigil tonight in the [Portland, Oregon] South Park blocks To celebrate his life and we hope to end imperialism in the United States. We will be burning Bibles and other Christian related material.

Crack thanks for the link;I have even more respect for Obama-- here is a black man who doesn't get dragged down by turbulent and fragmented family, but manages to transcend it to some degree, take responsibility for himself and go on to establish a career and family-- I could only wish.

...perhaps we can give President Obama credit for not following the policies of Candidate Obama.

This is both true and untrue. Obama did campaign against Guantanamo and all that went with it.

But he also campaigned on staying the course in Afghanistan. I thought at the time that this was a terrible mistake -- that consolidating gains in Iraq (McCain's stance) was much more important -- and I still think that.

But, the killing of Bin Laden does confirm candidate Obama's point. The bunker of global terrorism is in Pakistan. If you want to kill terrorists that's the place to go.

The more I think about it, the more credit I think Obama deserves for this. He said he would attack into Pakistan and got a lot of ridicule for it (partly for saying it; it's not the kind of thing you're supposed to say). And when he was given the responsibility he followed through.

I think this is a tactical victory and I don't think we can win the war against terror by tracking down individual terrorists.

But Obama still deserves a lot of credit.

* * *

Looking at the maps and reading more details I'm struck by how far away Abbottabad is from the tribal areas near Afghanistan. Abbottabad is practically on the border of Kashmir. Which itself is interesting.

Oh please. Obama said that the only thing the US military was doing in Afghanistan was air bombing villages and killing civilians...and then he increases the number of drone attacks.

Obama tried to have it both ways. He did not want to sound like he was soft on terrorism, but he did want to complain about Iraq..so the best way to do that was to say that Bush took his eye off the ball and blah blah blah...but the point is that Obama would not have found Osama Bin Laden if not for the efforts of a lot of other people..Bush and Cheney among them. It would not kill him to admit that.

Looking at the maps and reading more details I'm struck by how far away Abbottabad is from the tribal areas near Afghanistan. Abbottabad is practically on the border of Kashmir. Which itself is interesting.

Yeah, this place is not the remote, lawless village that people expected UBL to be holed up in. The Pakistani military academy is a kilometer from his compound and there are several lsrge hospitals in town where UBL probably recieved treatment for his medical conditions. Though we won't be able to confirm the latter, what with his body being buried at sea and all.

@Terrye -- All you say is true. I too think Obama's focus on Afghanistan in 2008 was about positioning and expediency. I think the escalation in Afghanistan since 2008 is a strategic mistake (though many counter-terrorism experts disagree).

Yet whatever Obama's motives, he did commit to aggressive operations in Afghanistan and this is one of the outcomes.

Rush lays on the lard before all the reports are out. Obama never claimed he was the only one who thought of this tactic, but clearly he had to make the decision and take the risk.Obama praised the Navy Seals and others in the speech I watched last night, and I counted five references to God--or what ever that is worth. By the way the mission was not flawless,as Rush claims-- one helicopter unexplainably fell from the sky. As I said before Rush doesn't know how to resolve the contradiction of the right win narrative about Obama- the socialist who continues the Bush doctrines and thus circles his own rhetoric in search of the bite.

Obama made a great call in approving this mission. He made a great call in letting it be delayed, for better weather. He made a great call in not reading the Pakistani's in before we went. He made a great call in not scuttling the mission when the chopper went down.

In the Marine Corps we call that "meets expectations".

But then, Obama gets accolades for being "clean looking and articulate" so maybe we should give a medal for not fucking this up.

this place is not the remote, lawless village that people expected UBL to be holed up in. The Pakistani military academy is a kilometer from his compound and there are several lsrge hospitals in town where UBL probably recieved treatment for his medical conditions. Though we won't be able to confirm the latter, what with his body being buried at sea and all.

I wish we had wiped it off the map. An object lesson for those who shelter OBL's kind.

When news began trickling out that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden had been killed, many Americans rushed to their TV sets for details, broke into chants at baseball parks or hit the streets to cheer the end of a 10-year manhunt.

But Milwaukee County Reserve Judge Russell Stamper had a different reaction.

He considers the death of bin Laden a case of coldblooded murder.

"I was saddened," said Stamper, who fills in for county judges when needed. "You murdered a man."

Who the fuck cares what Limbaugh says about anything. He's a hardcore drug addict. Republican judges have put people in prison for far less than what Limbaugh did."

Is this meant to be ironic? The only reason you are screaming about him like that is because you care what he said. He's got a large audience. Larger than any of the networks or newspapers.

Bringing up his drugs from however many years ago is particularly petty and hypocritical. How come democrats are such hypocrites about drugs? You don't even get freedom of speech if you got addicted to painkillers when you had back surgery? Seriously? Of course, you really mean to deny rights to conservatives rather than druggies, you silly fascist.

[E]ven if [Osama bin Laden] is caught tomorrow, it is five years too late. He has done more damage the longer he has been out there. But, in fact, the damage that he has done ... is done. And even to capture him now I don't think makes us any safer.

The Internet is the worst thing to happen to liberals since Ronald Reagan...

I heard part of Limbaugh's program yesterday. I think he was giving credit where credit was due, which included Obama and Bush. I think he was sincere in his praise of Obama for having the courage to go against his base and pursue this lead even if it meant keeping Gitmo open. However, Limbaugh made it clear that Bush's policies played a big role in this, and that maybe Obama didn't acknowledge that role as much as he should have. Rush also play an excerpt from an Obama speech in April of 2009 when Obama vowed to shut Gitmo down, etc. According to the paper, the lead of the name of the courier was obtained in 2007, so someone must have done a great job of convincing Obama that the lead was important enough for him to drop his campaign promises to close Gitmo and end the war. Anyone know who that was? If it was reported, I missed it.

Yes, the thumbnailed image creates a different impression than in the larger photo. However, the WH released the photo, obviously without realizing the weak message it sent.

As a former marketing exec, the weak visual message vs a strong leadership image is what caught my eye. This is not the first time the WH media machine stumbled when a strong favorable media message was a given. I am surprised that they haven't addressed better vetting of their imagery.